Dozens of people waited hours to testify Friday on the latest
version of the state's controversial efforts to craft an iron ore
mining bill, with many charging the bill ignores science and
provides a platform for mining companies to play by their own
rules.

Early testimony before the Joint Finance Committee from the
bill's authors and mining company officials focused on the need for
the bill to pass in order to provide certainty and a more
streamlined permitting process for iron-ore mining companies. But
later testimony focused on the fact that the stretch of northern
Wisconsin land Gogebic Taconite wants to mine contains more than
simply iron ore.

"This is a scientific issue," Joe Skulan of Lodi told members of
the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee. "And nobody is talking
about the rocks."

Skulan, and others, including George Meyer, who served as
secretary of the Department of Natural Resources under former
Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, were critical of the state passing
a mining law that only regulates iron ore mining and doesn't
address toxic chemicals that are likely to be stirred up in the
process.

The state's current mining law regulates all of these materials.
But the bill now before the committee no longer regulates
non-ferrous mining. By all accounts, this bill was crafted
specifically to assist Gogebic Taconite in its proposal to dig a
huge iron ore mine south of Ashland.

Meyer says the lack of regulations would leave no safeguards in
place when the sulphite layers above the iron ore seep into the
lakes, streams and groundwater nearby.

"This is a mine that should be regulated under current
standards," Meyer said.

Meyer, currently the executive director of the Wisconsin
Wildlife Federation, said anyone who knows anything about rock
formations can simply look at the site where the $1.5 billion mine
is being proposed to see there are other rock materials on top of
the iron ore that will be problematic.

Skulan added that when a material like pyrite, commonly known as
fool's gold, mixes with oxygen, it becomes a toxic substance that
also would go unregulated, causing pollution to nearby
waterways.

"There may well be as much pyrite as there is ore," Skulan said.
"But the mining company is saying ‘No. This is just an iron ore
mine.'"

Gogebic Taconite has not done any sampling of the rocks, leading
to wide speculation about what is buried below the earth.

"Those concerns about environmental damages are very real,"
Meyer says. "There is no way of arguing that this law isn't
lowering the state's environmental standards."

As Madison as it gets: Get Cap Times' highlights sent daily to your inbox

I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site consitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.

Friday's hearing on the Assembly version of the mining bill (AB
426) came roughly 36 hours after Senate Majority Leader Scott
Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, disbanded a committee working on a Senate
compromise to the legislation that addressed some of the more
controversial components.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
first reported Friday morning, however, that the Senate lacked
the votes to pass the Senate version.

Yet another mining bill is now in the works, with Sen. Dale
Schultz, R-Richland Center, working to craft a version he says will
be ready Monday. Republicans, who control the Senate 17-16, have
made job creation and passage of a mining bill top priorities since
gaining the majority in November 2010, but Schultz had said earlier
that he could not support the Assembly mining bill.

With Gov. Scott Walker and four other GOP senators now expected
to face recall elections, the Republicans are anxious to deliver
legislation they say will provide good jobs.

"This bill is about creating jobs for my district," Sen. Pam
Galloway, R-Wausau, told the committee Friday, echoing the
Republican theme. Galloway is facing a recall. "The positive
impacts of this mine being built will be felt not only in northern
Wisconsin, but across the state."